Excavating bucket structure



April 1966 H. H. WASHBOND 3,243,906

EXCAVATING BUCKET STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 14, 1963 Enoch/141% United StatesPatent 3,243,996 EXCAVATING BU'IZKET STRUCTURE Harry H. Washbond,Springfield, Ill., assignor to Allis- Chalmers Manufacturing Company,Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Oct. 14, 1963, Ser. No. 315,895 4 Claims. (Cl.37-141) This invention relates to an excavating bucket structure of thetype used on tractor shovels and particularly relates to a heavy dutybucket construction of relatively light weight.

Bucket structures have heretofore been provided with wrap-around bladesto increase the corner strength of the bucket, however, even greaterstrength of the bucket bottom anwd forward corners of the bucket isdesired. It is therefore a primary object of my invention to provide theheavy duty bucket of superior strength.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an excavating bucketof rugged construction which is comprised of simple parts for ease ofmanufacturing and welding.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a heavy wrap-aroundplate at the front of the bucket for mounting the wrap-around cuttingblade which not only provides good support for the cutting blade andgood strength at the corners of the bucket but also absorbs the shockincurred in extreme working conditions such as loading rock.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a bucket bottom ofsuperior strength which employs a core type construction wherein a heavywrap-around plate for mounting the cutting blade serves as a spacer forvertically spaced bottom walls.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a heavy duty bucketconstruction employing a heavy duty wraparound plate which hasupstanding ends serving as forward continuations of the side walls ofthe bucket.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a heavy duty bucketstructure wherein a heavy wrap-around plate is employed for mounting thecutting blade and for spacing the upper and lower bottom walls of thebucket and wherein a reinforcing tooth is mounted on the bucket inbridging relation to the space between the cutting blade and alongitudinally extending slide member having its forward end in backuprelation to the cutting blade.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will beapparent to those familiar with the art, upon reference to the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of my bucket construction;

FIG. 2 is a section view taken along the line 1IH in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section view of my bucket bottom taken along the line IIIIIIin FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section take along the line IV1V in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a section view taken along the line VV in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the illustrated embodiment of my inventionis a heavy duty bucket structure 11 which is connected through pivotconnections 12, 13 to a suitable support and adjustment linkage. Mybucket structure includes a curved plate 15 presenting a bottom wall 14having a flat forward section 16, an upwardly sloping section 17, and acurved portion 18 which forms the back wall of the bucket. The laterallyoposite ends of the bottom wall 14 are secured by welding totransversely spaced side walls 21, 22.

In order to provide additional strength in the bottom, the front cornersand the front portion of the sides of my ice bucket, I provide arelatively thick wrap-around plate 24. Wrap-around plate 24 has atransversely extending fiat portion 26 secured to and underlying thefront portion 16 of the bottom wall 14. The wrap-around plate 24 alsohas upstanding end portions 27, 28 which are butt welded at joints 29,31 to the front edges of the side walls 21, 22, respectively. Thus theupstanding end portions 27, 28 of my wrap-around plate 24 constitutefront side wall portions of increased thickness and strength. Thewraparound plate 24 is of greater thickness than the bottom wall 14 andthe side walls 21, 22. I have found that by using presently knownwelding techniques, extremely strong butt weld joints can be providedbetween the rear end of the upstanding ends 27, 28 on the wrap-aroundplate 24 and the front ends of the side walls 21, 22. The bucket sideWall is further strengthened by a flat reinforcing plate 30 welded tothe side Wall 21 and to the rear edge of the upstanding portion 27 ofwrap-around plate 24. The opposite side of the bucket employs a similarconstruction. The wrap-around upstanding end portions 27, 28 are beveledat their top edges to produce tapered surfaces 32, 33 which constituteside cutting edges.

The wrap-around plate bottom portion 26 is welded at its front and rearto the bottom wall 14. In order to provide superior strength in thebottom of my bucket, I provide a core construction which includes asubbottom wall 36. The forward end of the subbottom wall 35 is welded tothe rear part of wrap-around plate 24 and additionally the subbottomwall 36 is provided with slots 37 to permit plug welding to thewrap-around plate 24. The rear end of subbottom wall 36 is welded to atransversely extending reinforcing member in the form of an angle 39which serves to space the subbottom wall 36 from the bottom wall 14. Theflanges 40, 41 are welded to the underside of the bottom wall 14 andrear wall 18, respectively. A transversely extending channel member 42also serves to space the bottom wall 14 from the subbottom wall 36 andto lend strength to the bottom. The flanges of the channel 42 are weldedto the underside of the bottom wall 14 and slots 43 are provided in thesubbottom wall 36 to permit plug welding of the latter to the channelmember 42.

A plurality of wear strips or slides 46, 47 are welded to the subbottomwall 36 to take the wearing action that would otherwise be 'nnposed onthe subbottom wall. The slides 46, 47 also serve as reinforcing membersfor the bucket at the points where the excavating teeth 48 areinstalled. There are two slides 47 provided which extend rearwardly to agreater extent than slides 46. These wrap around the lower end ofbracket structures 49, only one of which is shown.

A wrap-around cutting blade 51 is secured by a plurality of rivets 52 tothe bottom wall 14 and to the bottom section 26 of the wrap-around plate24. As shown in FIG. 4, the upstanding sides of the blade 51 are secured to the upstanding end portions 27, 28 of the wraparound plate 24by rivets 53. The slides 46, 47 terminate at their forward ends adjacentto the rear end of the blade 51 and are of a thickness so that wheninstalled their bottom surface is at approximately the same level as thebottom surface of the wrap-around blade 51. Thus the slides 46, 47 willnot tend to catch or drag during excavation.

The reinforcing teeth 48 have top legs 56 and bottom legs 57 extendingrearwardly sufliciently far to permit a rear fastening member in theform of bolt 58 to extend through the slide 46, the subbottom wall 36,the wraparound plate 24 and the bottom wall 14. Thus the gap between therear end of the cutting blade 51 and the slides 46, 47, and thesubbottom wall 36 is bridged by the bottom legs of the teeth 48. Thisserves to reinforce the bucket bottom to an extent commensurate with thegreater stresses to which it is subjected due to use of the cuttingteeth. In addition to the rear fastening means, which includes bolts 58and nuts 59, front fastening means in the form of bolts 61 and nuts 62are also provided to secure the legs 56, 57 to the blade 51, wrap-aroundplate 24 and the bottom Wall 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, the side wall 21 extends downwardly beyond thebottom wall 14 to be secured by welding to the subbottom wall 36, thuscompletely enclosing the lower bottom structure and providing a smoothside face for the bucket. The opposite side of the bucket is similarlyconstructed.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be noted that the wraparound plate 24serves not only to provide a strong heavy section forward end for thebucket but also as a spacer for the bottom and subbottom walls 14, 36.Additionally, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the subbottom wall 36 andslides 46, 47 serve as backup means for the cutting blade 51.

My bucket construction is made up of easily formed parts which aredesigned and arranged to make the most effective use of material usedand to permit use of conventional welding equipment in manufacturing.This results in not only superior strength where needed to withstandheavy duty use, but also in relatively light weight. The wrap-aroundplate 24 extends all the way to the top of the sides of the bucket thusproviding strong front side portions giving long life in excavating androck loading operations. The flat section 26 of the plate 24 not onlyserves as a tough shock absorbing forward portion for the bucket bottombut also as a spacer for the longitudinally extending bottom andsubbottom Walls 14, 36, which together with channel 42 and angle 39complete an exceptionally strong core bottom construction.

The embodiments of the invention for which an exelusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows: 7

1. An excavating bucket comprising:

a pair of spaced upstanding side walls;

a longitudinally extending bottom wall rigidly secured at its laterallyopposite ends to the lower portions of said side walls;

a wrap-around plate having a transversely extending portion secured toand underlying the front portion of said bottom wall and includingupstanding end portions having their rear edges butt welded,respectively, to the front edges of said side walls to form forwardextending continuations of the latter;

a longitudinally extending subbottom wall having a forward portionunderlying and secured to the rear part of said transversely extendingportion of said wraparound plate;

means vertically spacing the rear portion of said subbottomwall belowsaid bottom wall and rigidly securing said subbottom wall to said bottomwall-along its Width,

and a wrap-around cutting blade connected to said bottom wall andwrap-around plate forwardly ofsaid subbottom wall.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 and further comprising a pluralityof longitudinally extending and transversely spaced slides secured tosaid subbottom wall and each having a forward end terminating at therear of said cutting blade, the bottom of said cutting blade being atleast as low as the bottom of said forward ends of said slides.

3. The structure set forth in claim 2 and further comprising a pluralityof laterally spaced teeth having upper and lower legs secured to saidbucket in longitudinally bridging relation to the space between saidblade and said slides.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said wraparound plate isof heavier section than said side walls.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,757,328 5/1930Mullally 374-141 1,921,491 8/1933 Van Buskirk 37-141 1,945,064 1/1934Murtaugh 374-141 2,523,958 9/ 1950 Knobel 37141 3,014,293 12/1961Boatman 37-141 3,093,917 6/1963 Schoeder 37-+141 ANTONIO F. GUIDA,Acting Primary Examiner.

BENJAMIN HERSH, Examiner.

G. T. MOLLER, Assistant Examiner.

1. AN EXACAVATING BUCKET COMPRISING: A PAIR OF SPACED UPSTANDING SIDEWALLS; A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING BOTTOM WALL RIGIDLY SECURED AT ITSLATERALLY OPPOSITE ENDS TO THE LOWER PORTIONS OF SAID SIDE WALLS; AWRAP-AROUND PLATE HAVING A TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING PORTION SECURED TO ANDUNDERLYING THE FRONT PORTION OF SAID BOTTOM WALL AND INCLUDINGUPSTANDING END PORTIONS HAVING THEIR REAR EDGES BUTT WELDED,RESPECTIVELY, TO THE FRONT EDGES OF SAID SIDE WALLS TO FORM FORWARDEXTENDING CONTINUATIONS OF THE LATTER; A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDINGSUBBOTTOM WALL HAVING A FORWARD PORTION UNDERLYING AND SECURED TO THEREAR PART OF SAID TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING PORTION OF SAID WRAPAROUNDPLATE; MEANS VERTICALLY SPACING THE REAR PORTION OF SAID SUBBOTTOM WALLBELOW SAID BOTTOM WALL AND RIGIDLY SECURING SAID SUBBOTTOM WALL TO SAIDBOTTOM WALL ALONG ITS WIDTH, AND A WRAP-AROUND CUTTING BLADE CONNECTEDTO SAID BOTTOM WALL AND WRAP-AROUND PLATE FORWARDLY OF SAID SUBBOTTOMWALL.